HELP PROMOTE POLLINATORS
Habitat: What Do Pollinators Need?
Palouse Pollinator Working Group
Promoting Pollinators on the Palouse
The Palouse Pollinator Working Group is an organization of concerned citizens who know the invaluable service pollinators play in keeping our ecosystems and farms healthy. We have banded together to spread awareness of the need to protect these extremely important creatures and their habitats.
2026 6th Inland Northwest Pollinator Summit
Wednesday Afternoon,Program March 25:
Final Schedule TBA: see speakers and topics below
Topics and speakers (this will be updated to include times later this month):
What is Habitat by Megan Ford
Habitat Needs of Regional Butterflies by David G James (WSU Prosser)
Habitat Needs of Regional Pollinator Moths, Wasps, Beetles, and True Bugs by David G James
Wednesday Evening Program
Designing Your Pollinator Garden Landscape, Big or Small (workshop)
by Susan Fluegel (experienced landscaper and pollinator garden designer) and
Suvia Judd (trained in resilient landscape design)
Thursday Morning Program March 26:
Topics and speakers (this will be updated to include times later this month):
The habitat needs of native plants
What Kind of Flowers Attract What Kind of Pollinators? Camera study results (SARE Grant) by Susan Fluegel
A Pollinator Plant for Every Season by Suvia Judd, with Deborah B, and Pam Brunsfeld contributors
Thursday Afternoon Program:
The Habitat Needs of Local Hummingbirds
The Habitat Needs of Native Pollinating Fly Species by Susan Fluegel
The Native Bees of Idaho by Luc Leblanc (UI)
The Habitat Needs of Native Bees of Our Region (plus needs of honeybees) by Rae Olsson (WSU)
Moscow Bee City Program and Projects by David Schott, City of Moscow
Pollinator Plate: Habitat Needs of Pollinators Summary by Pollinator Working Group
INLAND NORTHWEST POLLINATOR SUMMIT 2026
Habitat: What Do Pollinators Need?
Speaker Abstracts and Bios
Suvia Judd
Bio: Suvia Judd is the current board chairperson of Rural Roots ( ruralroots.org). She is a retired small acreage farmer and plant nursery owner, and has lived on the Palouse for forty years. She loves equally to walk in wild places and observe the natural communities and to stay home and putter in her gardens. She especially enjoys growing any kind of squash, Romano pole beans, anything with fruit, and flowers that attract pollinators. She has degrees in biology, public health nutrition, and law, and values ecological literacy highly. Her research experience includes amphibian population biology, wilderness water quality, and using browse plants to supplement camelid pastures. She is a certified permaculture designer.
Luc Leblanc
Bio: Dr. Leblanc has over 40 years of experience in the fields of insect taxonomy research, managing insect collections, and implementing plant protection-related projects in Africa and the South Pacific Islands. He is the curator of the William F. Barr Entomological Museum, at the University of Idaho and teaches their Insect Identification course. His main research focus is on the taxonomy, ecology and control of the tropical pest fruit flies that are regularly detected as invasive species in California and Florida.
Meghan Foard
Bio: Dr. Meghan Foard has 25 years of research experience in plant ecology. She received her PhD from the University of Idaho and has worked as a Senior Ecology Instructor there for the past four years. In her role, she develops and teaches curricula for courses such as Systematic Botany and Mountain Ecology, among others. Education has always been her primary motivation, encompassing learning, teaching, and sharing knowledge. With more than 15 years of experience in plant-related teaching and outreach, she learns just as much from her students as she teaches them.
What Is The Pollinator Working Group?
The Palouse Pollinator Working Group was founded in 2019, when Rural Roots approached Latah County Extension and the Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition (PESC) about creating a working group of regional stakeholders concerned about dwindling regional pollinator populations. Other groups came on board and beginning in 2020 the new group began putting on an annual educational event, the Pollinator Summit (now “The Inland Northwest Pollinator Summit.")
The 2026 Inland Northwest Pollinator Summit, March 25 and 26 at the 1912 Center in Moscow, will be our Seventh!)
This years Palouse Pollinator Working Group volunteers come from the following organizations:
City of Moscow Sustainability Office
Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute
Palouse Prairie Foundation
Rural Roots
University of Idaho Barr Entomological Museum
MISSION
To establish, maintain, and protect healthy pollinator populations across the Palouse Bioregion
GOALS
1) To educate residents about pollinators and their needs
2) To empower residents to make individual and community changes to support pollinators and enhance pollinator habitat
3) To bring together stakeholders to share information, create joint projects, and reach a broad audience
4) To facilitate pollinator research and support pollinator researchers
5)To bring current pollinator research to the public
6) To promote practical applications of pollinator research, especially in our region.
PROJECTS
The Inland Northwest Pollinator Summit (annual event).
Promoting Moscow, ID as a Bee City.
New website (you are here!) to share information about pollinator education, research, and habitat restoration in our region.
